Maroni

Site B (Phase 3): Friday 1 March 1896

Resumption of site B, ‘to the east of the tombs previously investigated and along the pathway’.

Tomb 71

Contents: CMMaterials/objects: Pottery, stoneChronological range of objects: CC (5th–4th centuries BC)Tomb type and status: Chamber (?). A sketch in the margin of the Notebook shows a small square shaft and a sarcophagus straddling the pathway, connected to a larger rectangular shaft on the other side of the track. The tomb is not described in the text of the NotebookAdditional information: Greek Black Figure lekythos (CM 1684); two alabaster bases; imported Greek lamp. CCM, 87, 182; Lamp III, 292.

Tomb 72

Contents: BM: seven items Materials/objects: Stone, bronze, gold, potteryChronological range of objects: CC (?); RomanTomb type and status: ‘A large circular tomb probably robbed and used again in Roman times’Additional information: The Notebooks also mention bronze jewellery; two stone beads; ‘thirteen glass vases and glass jar or cup’; ‘seven large bronze coins – presumably Roman’; several clearly of Antonine date also found but not registered. See Lamp III, 292 and pl. 145 for an account of the tomb and the preserved grave goods.

NotebookDescriptions of Tombs 71–72 with sketch of excavation area

Tomb 73

Contents: BM: 94 itemsMaterials/objects: Gold, silver, bronze, pottery, terracottaChronological range of objects: CA II–CC ITomb type and status: Chamber tomb ‘full of earth, apparently untouched’Additional information: This is the richest and most comprehensively sampled (and documented) tomb from Kourion. See Bailey and Hockey 2001 for a full account, including the large group of Cypro-Archaic jewellery recovered from the scrap metal found in the tomb (GR 1991,12-11.1–35). However, as the latter note, the rarity of local pottery types in an ostensibly intact tomb is extremely unusual for a burial of this period; in reality the British Museum team may simply have discarded these without note.

Tomb 76

Contents: CMMaterials/objects: Gold, silverChronological range of objects: CA–CC (?); Roman (?)Tomb type and status: Large chamber tomb ‘with arched roof’; two skeletonsAdditional information: Pair of ram’s head bracelets (CC); gold rings with decorated bezels and other jewellery; silver snake bracelets. The tomb is described in the Notebook as Roman but the identifiable finds are CA–CC in date. Perhaps the chamber was reused and the excavators found Roman material, which they did not record.

Tomb 77

Contents: BM: 19 items Materials/objects: Bronze, stone, gold, glass, boneChronological range of objects: RomanTomb type and status: Large chamber tomb with long entrance passage dromosAdditional information: Five frags of gold leaf registered as 1896,2-1.169–173 were also registered but are no longer identifiable. Also mentioned in Notebook: stone beads; eight glass bottles, of which only the one retaining its contents was registered.

Tomb 83

Contents: BM: 16 itemsMaterials/objects: Pottery, gold, silver, bronze, stone, iron, boneChronological range of objects: CA II–CCII (?)Tomb type and status: Three interconnecting chambers, two axial, the third off-set but with a shaft on the opposite side of the passage (see sketch in Notebook)Additional information: A second silver cup identical to 1896,2-1.336 was also registered but is no longer identifiable. A third silver 'bowl' is listed in the Notebook, but was not apparently registered. One is described as broken, and so perhaps was not preserved. Also mentioned in Notebook: bone beads; iron stand.